FlexACO

YASKAWA CSDA10F - Bildquelle: https://www.yaskawa.de

Project description

The comprehensive diagnosis of infections is crucial in pandemics in general and in the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, in order to contain the outbreak. A decisive contribution to better recording of COVID-19 infections is therefore the increased use of diagnostic tests. The medical gold standard for the diagnosis of a viral infection is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in which samples are tested for corresponding gene sequences of the virus. The smear of the posterior pharyngeal wall is transported in a sealed tube to a suitable laboratory and prepared for analysis by laboratory staff under sterile conditions. Finally, the PCR is usually performed automatically.

However, since sample preparation involves considerable personnel effort, it represents a bottleneck in the entire process and also carries the risk of infection for the personnel. Within the research project FlexACO the steps of pre- and post-analysis shall be taken over by a robot system. The robot will be integrated into the existing diagnostic process both in terms of hardware and software. The automation system will be designed as flexible and modular as possible in order to be used in different semi-automated processes of medical laboratories. Thus the system is not only useful in the current acute case of the COVID-19 pandemic.